Railroad tie



@@Qmwm @MQMQM 2 Sheets-Sheet l H. L. THOMAS. v

RAILROAD TIE Filed Jan. 31. 19.24

Aug. 5. 1924.

i Patented Aug. 5, 1924.

narran s'rArs-s HEZEKIAHL. THoivms, or

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

RAILROAD TIE.

pplicaton filed lTanuary 31, 1924. Serial No. 689,771.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, HEZEKIAH L. THOMAS, Y a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad Ties (Case A), of which the following is a specification. l

This invention comprehends certain new and useful improvements in railroad ties, particularly ties of reinforced concrete or similar composition, and the invention has for its primary object a tie of this character which will possess to a marked degree the characteristics of durability, simplicity, and rigidity, so far as withstanding breakingdown strains or stresses are concerned, while at the' same time itr will possess sufficient resilience to produce when installed a sufficiently yielding road bed to assist materially in the riding qualities of the rolling stock. The invention also has for itsl object a tie of this character embodying improved means for supporting and holding the rails in place, such means including liber or wood Y blocks supported in recesses in the upper face of the tie underneath the rails and designed to support the rails in a resilient manner while at the same time provision is made for preventing the rail cushions from? mashing or otherwise breaking down, provision being made for holding the rails rigidly in place as against accidental displacement while at the same time imparting sufficient resiliency to them to absorb shocks such as they are manifestly subjected to` when a train passes lover them. i

With these and other objects in viewas will kmore fully appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, arrangements and combinations of the parts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railroad tie embodying one form of myY invention.

Fig. 2 iS a thereof. Y

Fig. 3 is a perspective lview of the reinforcing portions that are embedded in the concrete of the tie. V i Y Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary views illustrating particularly the fiber or Wood cushion designed to ydirectly support the longitudinal sectional view rail, and the manner in which said cushion is mounted in the tie.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary side elevationil-V lustrating another embodiment of the rail holdingmeans or devices.V

Fig. 7 illustrates in detail the form of yoke that may be used as part of the rail holding means illustrated in Fig. 6 or as part of the rail holding means illustrated in Fig. 2. K

Fig. y8L is adetail perspective view of the yoke employed in that form of'rail holding means which is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,

and Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of F one ofthe reinforcing plates that are embedded in the concrete railholdinglugs vof the tie. Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and designated in all of the views of the accompanying drawings by like reference numerals. 1

Referring to kthe drawings, the numeral 1 designates the body portion of the tie which Y is preferably molded of concrete or the like and of any desired shape or 'contour except as hereinafter noted. The body portion 1 is formed in its upper face with recesses 2 to receive the rails and rail holding means, each recess being formedat one side with an undercut wall 3 to produce an integral rail holding lug or member 4 which 'is designed to extend over the outer base flange of the rail 5 and up along and in contact with the web thereof, preferably terminating short of the underside of the head of the rail as best' illustrated in Fig. 2. The opposite wall of each recess 2 is also undercut as at 6, to receive and engage with the outer beveled wall 7 of a rail holding block 8 formed of metal, concrete or the like, said rail holding block being formed at its rail engaging side with a lug 9 corresponding tothe rail holding lug 4 asy lclearly illustrated in the drawings. v y v 1 Preferably the block 8 is formed in its upper face with a transversely extending groove or recess 10 .t0 receive and hold, las against accidental displacement, thel crossV bar 11. of a yoke 12, said yoke being vsubstantially of inverted U-form and being provided-at the extremities of its vertically Vdisposed members with apertured eyes-13 to receive the transversely extending bolt or rody 14 which extendsthrough the tieYY from side to side as shown vand which is held in place by nuts or similar fastening members) in this form or embodiment of the invention now being described the con crete body 1 of the tie is reinforced by means of a plurality of bars or plates 16, which extend longitudinally of the tie in laterally spaced relation one to another and on edge. These plates or bars 16 are foraminous, as shown, the openings extending therethrough being of any desired shape, number and arrangement; but preferably in this embodiment of the invention the reinforcing plates are in the form of steel girders formed with a middle and two-end series of triangular shaped openings 1T. the third series being separated by rela-tixf'ely solid portions V18 formed with a plurality oif round Openings 19, one set of opening 19, transversely considered', registering to receive and accommodatethe bolt or rod 14, and a cy'ilindrical metal sleeve 2O which s urrounds said bolt and which is embedded in the concrete along with the reinforcing members 16, thereby obviating the necessity of coring a hole for the bolt 14 and allowing said bolt to bear against the metal sleeve 2O instead ofagainst the concrete, thereby removing` the possibility of the bolt or rod chipping the concrete body of the tie.

` At their ends the transversely spaced vertically disposed and longitudinally extending' reinforcing` plates or bars 16 are preferably joined together by means of end plates These are formed at their ends with notches 22 forming lugs 23 designed to engage and interlock with corresponding' lugs 24 formed on the ends of the outermost reinforcing plates or bars 16, and the end plates are formed intermediate of their ends with openings 25 through which lugs 26 of the intermediate reinforcing plates or bars pass, said lugs 26 being thereupon bent over upon the outer sides of the end plates so as to produce a rigid framework com4 posed of the reinforcing bars and their connecting end plates 21. Preferably the end plates 2l are formed with any desired unmv ber of openings 2T that are filled with concrete in the completed tie in order to assist in holding the reinforcing structure securely embedded in place.

Preferably also each concrete rail holding lug 4 is reinforced to withstand fracture by means of a curved and preferably perforated plate28, said plate being formed of metal and provided at its ends with downwardly and inwardly turned lugs 29 engaging the top ianges 30 ofk the outermost reinforcing plates or bars 16, it being noted that these bars are formed at top and. bottom with lateral flanges in order to assist in imparting rigidity thereto. It will be seen that these lug reinforcing plates 2S curveupwardly and inwardly through and are embedded inthe rail holding lugs 4: and

that they effectively reinforce said lugs as against the fractures thatV might otherwise occur at these' points where' the rails when in position impart the greatest strain or side thrust against the' tie in actual use. Preferably the reinforcing plates 2S are formed with apertures 31 of any desired size, in order that they will be better held in place by the concrete.

ln order to give the rails 5 sutlicient resiliency to absorb shocks such rails ordinarily subjected to when a train passes over them, the body 1 of the tie is formed in its upper face underneath the rails with grooves or recesses 32 extending entirely across the face of the tie from one side wall to thev other, and depressions 33 are formed inv these recesses, the side walls of the depressions terminating short of the side walls of the body of the tie. Fitting snugly in these depressions 0r pockets 33 are wood or fiber blocks or cushions 34 designed to directly support the rails and it will be at ence apparent that by means of this construction and arrangement the cushions 8i will have a chance to be compressed vertically within themselves due to pressure on the rails but at the same time cannot crush out as they are retained on all sides by the side walls of the recesses 82.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. (S of the drawings, the concrete' tie body it" is formed in its upper fac"y on both sides of the rails with recesses 2a similar to the re- `cesses 2 hereinbefore described, two rail holding blocks 8a being here employed7 one on each side of the rail and being similar to the hereinbefore described blocks S. In this embodiment also a modified form of holding yoke 12nv is shown, said yoke comprising a cross bar 11 designed to be s'ated in a transverse groove in the upper face of the block and being held in place b v vertical rods l'lb apertured at their lower ends to receive the fastening rod 14 and ei:- tending at their upper ends through apertures formed in the ends of the transvers` bar 11a, nuts l screwing on the upper ends of the vertical rods 11b and bearing against the ends of the transverse rod 1l as shown, and the parts 11b and 14 being preferably held together by means of Washers and cotter pins as shown. lu this construction, as well as in the construction first described`r the outermost lower corners of the blocks are preferably rounded somewhat as illust-rand to prevent them from chipping the concrete.

From the foregoing description in connection' with the accompanying drawings, the manner of formation, assembling and practical useA of my improved railroad tie willv be obvious. It will be seen that I have provided a very simple, durable. and eiiicient construction of concrete tie which willbe able to well withstandthe hard usage to which devices of this klnd are necessarilyA subjected, that the rails will be se- 4curely heldin place, and atvthe same time will be permitted to have ysome vertical yielding movement so as to absorb the shocks that they will be subjected to vwhen trains pass over them. vPreferably the base or lowerfaceY ofthe tie is formed with a substantially elliptical recess 35 relatively shallow throughout but deepest at the middle of the. tie both longitudinally and transversely considered and tapering towards both the side walls and theV ends, the object of this recess being to assist in holding the tie securely in Vthe ballast.

` While the accompanying drawings illustrate what I believe to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, yet it is to be understood that my invention itnot limited thereto and that vario-us changes may be made in the construction, arrangements and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of the invention' as claimed.

What is claimed, is:

Al.. A railroad tie comprising a body portion formed in its upper face with rail receiving recesses, said. recesses being iuidercut at one side to form .rail holding lugs designed to overhang and engage the bases of the rails, blocks insertible in said recesses at the opposite sides of the rails from said lugs and engageable with the basesy of the rails, yokes extending over and upon said bloc-ks and down along the sides of the body of the tie, and fastening members holding the ends of said yokes to the tie for the purpose described.

2. A railroad tie comprising a body portion formed in its upper face with rail receiving recesses undercut at opposite sides, one of said undercuts formingA a rail engaging lug designed to contact with the base and web portion of a rail at one side thereof, rail holding blocks receivable in said recesses and designed to e-ngage the opposite portions of the base and web of the rails, said Vblocks being formed with beveled outer ends designed to it underneath the corresponding undercut portions of the recesses, said blocks beingA formedl lin their upper faces with transverse grooves, yokes extending across said blocks andengaging in said grooves and provided with downwardly extending end portions upon the sides of the body portion orf-the'tie, and

transverse fastening membersl extending through and across the tie and secured to the lower extremities of the downwardly extending end portions of the yokes for the purpose described. Y i

3. A railroad tie comprising a concrete body portion formed in its upper'k face with rail receiving recesses, said recesses being Yundercut at one side to `formrail'enigaging lugs, Areinforcing plates embedded iny the body portion of the tie-.and extending longitudinally thereof .c and other reinforcing plates embedded Lin the bodyrportionzof the tie and connected to the first mentioned reinforcing plates, the second namedreinforcing plates being mounted in said lugs, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. A railroad tie comprising a concrete body portion formed in its upper face, with rail receiving recesses, said recesses being undercut at one side to form overhanging rail -engaging plugs, reinforcing yplates embedded in the body portion of the tie and extending longitudinally thereof, and reinforcing plates embedded in said lugs and formed at their lower ends with downwardly and inwardly turned lugs engaging with.

the first named pose set forth.

6. A railroad tie comprising a concrete body portion, a plurality of reinforcing members embedded in said body Aportion and extending longitudinally thereof, said reinforcing members being formed at their ends withk lugs, and end plates extending transversely in the body portion of the tie and formed with lugs interlocking with the lugs of said reinforcing members, as and for the purpose set forth. f K

7. A railroad tie comprising a concrete plates, as and for the purbody portion, a plurality of reinforcing,

plates embeddedin saidy body portion and extending longitudinally thereof, said plates being arranged in laterally spaced relation to each other and `formed at their extremities with lugs, and end plates extending transversely along the ends of `the first named plates and formed at their ends with lugs interlocking with the lugs of the outermost plates of the series, the end plates befingl formed intermediate of their ends with openings to receive the end lugsL ofthe intermediate reinforcing plates of the series.

8. A railroad tie comprising a concrete body portion, reinforcing Yplates embeddedY in said body portion and extending longitudinally thereof, the body portion being formed inV its upper face with rail receiving recesses, blocks receivable in said re-V cesses 4and engageable with the rails to assist in holding the same in said recesses,

yokes engageable with said blocks and hav- 'ing Y end portions extending downwardly along the" side wall's. of the body portion, sleeves 'extending transversely through v*the body portion and the reinforcing plates, and fastening rodsflnounted in saidlsleeves and engageable at their ends with the lower extremities of the downward extending portions of: the yolies.

9. A railroad tie comprising a concrete body having raill engaging lugs; a plurality of longitudinally extending reinforcing plates elnbedded within the body in laterally spaced relation, and upwardly extending plates embedded Within said lugs and hay`A ing base portions disposed upon'I and bridg- 15 'iig all ofv Vsaid longitudinal*plates.`

10. A railroad tieodinprising a concrete body having rail engaging lugs,l a plurality of reinforcing plates embedded within the body and arranged in laterally spaced paralilel relation, f andv upwardly 'eX-tending plates-` embedded' within the body Vand' the* lugs" thereon,said last named plates having base HEZEKIAH L. THOMAS. 

